Beginner Lace Knitting Books and a question.

[lissaplus2]

Ive been asked by my LYS to teach a beginning lace class. (This could be cuz I just put the lace shawl I designed in her shop?)

I did not learn lace from a book however, and I would like to suggest a good begining lace book to my students.

Do any of you have any suggestions?

Also, If you were to go to my class, what would you like have as a project?
A: something small (like a washcloth) you could get all the basics from and get done in short order? which means fewer classes.
B: something large like a shawl, or scarf where the basics would be repetitive, for longer time span, and therefore stick a little better when the classes were over? which means more classes. or more spread out.

And, I was gonna spend the first class going over the basic stitches used in lace, lifelines, chart reading, needles and yarn, so they have somewhat of a grip on the "tools of the trade" no project on this class.
the second class and all following i was gonna get into the project with them. The project is the deciding factor in length of the course.

It has been my experiance however, I want to get down and dirty with what im learning as soon as possible...so maybe a long first class with half of it talking about basics and the other half working on project?

I have also been asked to teach a class on making the shawl I just designed for the more advanced knitters, so something short and sweet, maybe 3-4 weeks? on the beginner lace class would prob be ideal, so they could come to my other class.

Im telling you these things cuz i want your opinion on my ideas for the class. Anything i may have left out, or any suggestions?

I look forward to your ideas....
Melissa

[trvvn5]

I think a lot of it is going to be gauging your class. I'm currently a trainer at my hospital and I've found that teaching people something is all about figureing out where they are. And teaching in groups is all about figureing out where the lowest level person is and working there.

I would imagine that they already get the basics of knitting and purling. However, you could end up with someone who has no idea how to yarn over, or ktbl, or doesn't do decreases much. So you may want to do a quick, "Does everyone here know how to...?" kind of thing.

Personally, if I am taking a lace class, I'd want to know all about lace and wouldn't want someone to bore me with a lot of basic info that I already know. So gauge your audience and go from there.

As for the project, I'm going to the class so that I can learn something new I don't know and I'll practice at home in my own free time. I would prefer a lot of small projects that teach me the hows and then I'll cement that at home. I would consider it a waste of my time if I had to sit there and go over a really large project to learn something that I could do at home in my own time. If I wanted to do a larger project I would take a class that I know from the start will be working on one main project.

Thats just my opinion. I tend to be a very fast learner and tend to not like my time to be wasted. Others will learn more slowly and will need that personal time with you to cement things and may want to learn a large project that is very repetative so that they can get it down while you are there to instruct them.

[RuthieinMaryland]

Hi!

I think part of getting anyone to learn something is to engage their attention and usually their imagination.

Lace knitting has a very long history which I'm sure is filled with amazing information. You might find that reading up on the subject will give you lots of neat factoids to sprinkle throughout your teaching sessions which would hopefully add a new dimension to your students' understanding. I'm not suggesting a whole session on the history of lace knitting, just some pieces of that history which will connect your students to it.

As far as projects for the classes go I find that I get impatient with too much data and not enough "hands on", so after giving the bare bones basics maybe get everyone to cast on for a small or medium length project and then you can teach and they can do each step on an actual piece they're making.

Once they get some practice they'd be naturals to continue and do a class on the larger piece you designed. And then you'd have the advantage of working with "experienced" lace knitters since you've taught them yourself!

Whatever you decide, keep us info'd please and best of luck to you and your students!

Happy Knitting,

Ruthie